ercookies | TDM 003

TDM 003: #BEACHBUMS

I. BEACH

Welcome arrivals, new and old! The skies on Erku may be perpetually gray, but the weather has taken a sudden turn to summertime heat. Fortunately, soaring temperatures have chased away more of the strange fog that conceals so much of the island, unveiling a charming, sandy cove dotted here and there with rustic love shacks. These shabby little lean-tos are dusty and sparse, but they provide everything one (or two, wink wink) might need for a little relief from the sun. Just don’t wander too far... that fog has memory-loss properties.

II. DRINKS

The 'bots are very apologetic about the whole fog incident, and they are trying to get on the new arrivals' good sides by giving out fancy drinks. Of course, they still haven't mastered the art of making things properly, so each drink has a little something... extra.

Geloso: Has a slightly bitter, yet refreshing herbal taste... and it will make you feel inexplicably envious of virtually anything, to a petty degree! Be it someone else’s shoes or their incredibly muscular physique, you’re jealous enough to tell them about it!
Colpito: Fruity and sweet like candy. If you drink this, you will feel hopelessly infatuated with the very next person who catches your eye!
Vivace: Delightfully tart, with a flavor somewhere between citrus and raspberry. This summery drink will fill you with bubbly energy. Whether you’re feeling flirty or just mischievous and playful, you’ve never felt more alive!
Verace: Creamy, earthy, and a little nutty - the flavor is hard to describe, but delicious. After drinking this, you’ll feel strangely compelled to spill something you’ve been keeping a secret, no matter how incriminating or embarrassing.
Conoscere: The robots are especially excited about this flavor! They’ve heard organic beings enjoy chocolate, and hope you like their first attempt (it’s a little bitter, but it is chocolatey). Those who drink this will feel incredibly confident and sensual. Better yet, if you share it with a partner - which the 'bots encourage you to do - you’ll find that every touch is enhanced, and every sensation is shared between the two of you. A lucky few may even be able to sense one another’s thoughts!

III. SNACKS

Lo! As you ask, the Augur shall provide. Thanks to the efforts of your organic predecessors in restoring the planet’s Eros energy, edible fishes and seaweeds have returned to the ponds and the shores of Erku. If you fancy yourself savvy to basic survival skills, why not fashion up a fishing rod and catch yourself dinner? Just be careful if you happen to hook one of the octopus creatures from the deeper waters - they can be quite forward with their tentacles!

Or, if primitive angling isn’t in your repertoire, you can always trade some credits for a tasty catch from one of the food stalls along the coast. Most stalls are manned by 'bots, but there’s nothing stopping an enterprising arrival from setting up shop. No credits? No problem! The robots have also provided a bit of entertainment, and any volunteers to man the kissing booth, get dunked in the wet t-shirt dunk tank, or grill up some fish - among other opportunities - will find credits automatically loaded onto the payment app of their bracelet devices. The 'bots are recruiting especially hard for participants to work in the gloryhole tent!

IV. SPARKLES

As dusk descends, the white sands of the beach suddenly come alive with glittering lights. It’s as if the darkened waters have carried a thousand shining stars from the depths of the sea to the shores of the cove. In actuality, each little twinkle is a bioluminescent plankton or jellyfish! Feel free to wade among them and admire their shine; even the sting of the jellies won’t hurt you... though they do pack a different punch. The tentacles of the jellyfish elicit a powerful aphrodisiac response, which gets the heart racing and the blood pumping for an intimate touch. The effects come on within a matter of minutes, and last for a few hours. Only time will relieve the symptoms, but a partner will help to make it more bearable.

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N A V I G A T I O N

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"How long have you been here? It's only been a couple hours for me." Before her question could even be answered, Cynthia pulled Nah into a tight but brief hug, letting her go with a grin. "Even still, it's good to see somebody I know."

"Well, only the same amount, but still, I was worried for a bit. The last thing I want is to be left to deal with a place like this on my own."

She had to do that for a while back in Between, and wow, was that not fun. At all.

"What have you been doing?" She stepped back a bit and looked at the smoldering octopus she'd launched off her face. "Sorry about that, by the way."

"At least you killed it. The way it was attacking you, if it was attacking a human..." Cynthia shuddered lightly.

"Anyway, so far I've just been exploring the beach. It's a lot prettier than Between, though you can't imagine things here." Which meant she was stuck with her current clothing-a simple blue dress, a bit on the short side. Wouldn't exactly be ideal for any combat that cropped up.

"I think by this point we can all tell where that would've gone." Nah grimaced, but she couldn't even be that freaked out by the idea after everything they've already seen and experienced. Just... mildly repulsed. And mostly just because of the lack of consent inherent in the idea.

"Yeah, I noticed that as well, though obviously I was never as good at it... I can still transform, though. So maybe in this place belief power just isn't a thing? But they still want us to sleep with each other to maintain the world, so it's not all that different." Better to look at, though. Less horrible gray flatness, though the creepy fog was familiar, and the run down buildings. Not so much of that on the beach, though.

At that revelation-the sex thing-Cynthia lets out a sigh. "It'd be nice to end up some place where being a hero means being a hero, and not just having sex to save the world or whatever is going on here."

Not that she didn't find ways to get into martial trouble in Between, but she'd been prepared to be a knight errant back home, and this just wasn't that.

"I thought you were enjoying it." She teased, but she also knew what Cynthia meant. It'd be nice if the world didn't necessarily revolve around them sleeping with each other.

On the other hand, at this point she was rather used to it. She'd basically shrugged it off when she learned.

"Ah well, maybe we'll be attacked by horrible sea monsters and you'll get a chance to show off."

"I mean... I won't say I *wasn't* enjoying it, but it's hardly what I figured I'd be doing for the rest of my life, you know?" Fighting off horrible sea monsters would be a chance to actually do some real good, though, and not just by sleeping around. And they *did* have the spears for fishing, so presumably they had some for fighting, too.

"Well, I suppose none of use really had 'prostitute for the greater good' as one of our dreams for the future." One could say they'd need to be paid for that, but really, what was belief power if not the highest form of payment? Back in Between, at least.

"We'll see what happens here. Guesses as to the crazy thing this place throws at us for our first month?" Because she was certain there was going to be something.

"Maybe something that changes the way we look?" Hopefully nothing so drastic as the body-swapping (which had been *especially* weird when she went to sleep in Severa's body and woke up in a different version of it,) but that always seemed to crop up.

"Whatever it is, at least we're not totally on our own."

"Oooooo, do you think I'll get to be full-grown again if that happens?" If there was one change Nah absolutely adored, it was whenever she actually got to not be four feet tall, and instead got the build of the twenty-two year old she actually was.

"Right, we can deal with whatever comes together." A little optimistic for her, but hey, she's got two years of evidence on her side by now. It's reason enough for a little hope.

"Maybe! I guess it'll depend on exactly what happens." If it was anything like Between, it could be just about, well, anything. "I think you look cute like this, but it would be nice to see that version of you, too."

"Cute, fine, but you know I hate it when people look at me and see... someone younger than I actually am." Stupid slow-growing manakete side of her DNA.

"Well, maybe we should ask around and see what's happened so far. Or how long people have been here. I don't think we've been here from the beginning." Unlike herself in Between.

"Yeah, I know." And Cynthia could understand that. Being treated like a kid when you really weren't must have sucked.

"Should we stick together, or do we trust that things won't disappear enough to split up?" Covering more ground would be nice... but Cynthia wasn't sure that things wouldn't get even more fucked up if they separated.

At least she understood Nah's complaints. Then again, she'd had years of dealing with them to learn, so perhaps that was no surprise.

That was an interesting question, though... "Do you think the beach is big enough that we have any real need to split up? Because I was planning on staying here for a little while."

On account of it being so much nicer than anywhere in Between.

"I guess as long as we don't leave the beach, we don't need to." And leaving the beach when they were more or less entirely unfamiliar with the place would be a great way to get lost.

"We'll probably have to leave at some point, but personally I want to spend as much time out here as possible before returning to those buildings." That place looked a lot more like someplace they'd have seen in Between.

"Who knows. Maybe we can track down Lucina and Severa while we're here. Then even if we do have to split up, we'll be able to do so in groups of two."

"Maybe!" She glanced over at the rather massive pile of fish Nah had amassed, nodding in their direction. "And we should probably do something about all of those, too. Unless someone will come by and get them?"

"Oh, uh... I actually completely forgot about all those." Which was pretty darn embarrassing, actually. She might have just wandered off and left them flopping on the beach if Cynthia hadn't pointed them out.

"Right, let's see if we can find a bucket or a basket or something and carry them over to one of the cooking fires. I'm pretty sure if we just leave them there, they'll get used. And we can cook a few for ourselves."

TDM 003

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